


The Rose Has Thorns

by HaveAngstWillWrite



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Badass Ruby, F/F, Ruby and Jaune need to be badasses, badass Jaune, badass au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-14 14:33:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17510423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaveAngstWillWrite/pseuds/HaveAngstWillWrite
Summary: Ruby Rose was perfectly content never going to Beacon. She was perfectly happy working as a freelance mercenary for the rest of her life. Then, one day after stopping a robbery, Ozpin asks her to enroll. Normally she would have said no, but he offered some extra...incentive.





	1. Chapter 1

Ruby Rose was not happy. She had just come into  _ From Dust Till Dawn _ hoping to get a few thousand rounds from the old man, who considered her a regular, and leave. Then she decided to browse  _ Weapons Quarterly _ , looking for something new to add to her arsenal while he rung up her purchase. 

 

_ Curse my short attention span.  _ Ruby thought as the thugs came strolling in. There leader right behind them, with his white coat, heavy eyeliner, bowler hat and cane, Ruby was pretty sure he spent  _ way  _ too much time in drama club as a kid. She could hear them yapping away, it was pretty easy, her ears were pretty good, not Faunus level good, but damn close. The leader barked orders at his men and they started filling canisters with Dust.

 

_ Odd _ , Ruby thought, they had no interest in money, but they were going after the Dust like rabid dogs. She tried to reason out why a group of thugs would want so much of the stuff. These kind of people had three reasons for everything, money, power and control. They didn’t want the cash from the register and Dust prices weren’t that high... So, either they were building an army or were strangling the supply, but why?

 

In the few seconds it took the girl to think this through, one of the thugs came up and tapped her shoulder. Pulling off her headphones, which weren’t playing any music. She sized the man up and down slowly.  _ That sword of his is certainly not the picture of elegance _ , She assessed, the blade was more like an extremely long cleaver, not very practical in her opinion.  _ Said the girl who carries a sixty pound weapon with over thirty different configurations.  _ Her brain snarked back.

 

“Can I help you?” She asked, putting every ounce of sickly sweetness in her voice, trying to make it clear that he shouldn’t bother her.

 

“I said, put your hands in the air now!” Obviously, he hadn’t gotten the message, she tried one last time.

 

“Are you  _ robbing  _ me?”

 

The man glanced back like he couldn’t believe she asked that.

 

“Yes!”

“Ahhhhh...”  _ Well, at least I tried,  _ she thought, though she felt a little guilty about kicking the guy through the shop window, but only a little. As they landed, Ruby gracefully, the goon on his back out cold, Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose into it’s scythe configuration, good for scaring baddies, bad at opening sealed jars. The other men peered out the window cautiously, she could practically see them trying to solve how she got her ass all the way from the back of the shop to the street. It didn’t take a physics major to realize that shit didn’t add up.

 

“Well?” Ruby challenged. “Are we fighting or should I wait for you all to finish painting your nails? You want to get some facials too? I can wait for a bit.”

 

The leader muttered something about facials being on Wednesday’s and jerked his head towards the girl.

 

“Get her.”

 

The men approached slowly. What’s the worst thing you could do when fighting Ruby Rose, you might ask? Move slow. By the time any of them realized what was happening, their kneecaps were powder in their body. The thugs crumpled to the floor as one and stayed on the ground. The leader took a second to recover from his shock, before stomping out his cigarette and surveying what was left of his men.

 

“You were worth every cent,” he growled. “Truly you were.”

 

“Jeez,” Ruby snickered. “Where’d you get these guys? Did you put up an ad online or something? ‘Henchmen wanted?’”

 

The man dragged his hand across his face in exasperation. “Well, Red, I wish I could say it was a pleasure meeting you, but I only lie when I can get something out of it. So, we’ll just say it’s been an eventful evening.” He pointed the end of his cane at her feet. “But, this is where we part ways.”

 

Ruby didn’t think he was going to do it until the little crosshairs popped out, by then it was too late for Ruby to remember the most fundamental rule of fighting in Remnant.  _ Assume that every weapon is also a gun. _ She barely had time to dodge a screaming blast of fire. As she stood up from her roll, she searched the street for him, she found him climbing a roof ladder.

 

_ How the- he’s like a motherfucking jack rabbit.  _ It was the only way for her to rationalize how the hell he moved so fast, other than a Semblance, but she didn’t feel any residual Aura, so that couldn’t be it. She looked back at the shop, decided the old man was fine and chased after him. When she reached the ladder, she shot a sniper round into the ground and used the recoil to boost her, activating her Semblance to cover the little remainder of distance.

 

The man walked to the edge of the roof and stopped at the end. He glanced back and noticed her, muttering something under his breath. He turned to face her, a little bit of annoyance slipping from his mask of charm.

 

“Surprise!” Ruby cried, smiling with false sweetness.

 

The man sighed and smiled with exacerbation. “Could you do me a favor and run along, Little Red? I’d greatly appreciate it.”

 

“No can do,” She called back. “I don’t know who you are, but the somebody must be willing to pay something for you, I mean, you look like a guy who pisses people off on a regular basis. So, I’m guessing you’re worth some kind of payday.”

 

“You want money, Red? I got a couple thousand Lien in my pocket if you leave us be.” 

 

“Nope, you also pissed me off.”

 

He huffed and threw up his hands in an ‘I tried’ fashion. As he did so, a Bullhead rose from the alley.  _ Ah,  _ she thought,  _ he was stalling. _

 

“Sorry, Red,” he called out, throwing a Burn crystal out of his pocket. “End of the line!” 

 

He fired and Ruby saw that the blast was unavoidable, she was on a twenty foot roof, with no nearby cover. She braced herself for the inevitable pain. She heard the beginnings of the explosion, then nothing, no pain. In front of her stood the one and only Glynda Goodwitch. Most would be happy that they got there bacon saved by a licensed Huntress. Ruby was a little miffed, she and Glynda didn’t really get along. The tides turned and Goodwitch sent a hail of icicles, the Bullhead struggled for a second before all of the ice was melted by someone in the craft’s bay and brought into a spear of shrapnel that hurtled towards Glynda before breaking apart and being redirected at the craft. Barely managing to dodge it, the Bullhead started to retreat. Glynda took some shots at it, but Ruby could tell that was pretty much a useless effort.

 

“Glynda,” Ruby droned half-heartedly. “Stop. It’s useless.”

 

The Witch fixed her eyes on Ruby. “Did you have to go galavanting around?”

 

Ruby shrugged. “Nah, but I did it anyway.”

 

———————————————————————————————————

“What you did was reckless, impulsive and disrespectful!” Glynda ranted, pacing the room.

 

“You’re forgetting brave, selfless and kind.” Ruby said, true she had only been one of those things and it didn’t take a mind reader to know which one. 

 

“If it were up to me, you would be sent home with a pat on the back and-”

 

“Oooh! Let me guess! Is it a spank on the bottom? I mean you carry that riding crop around and clearly haven’t been getting any, so...my bet’s on sexual repression!”

 

Glynda scoffed and stammered, rearing her crop back as if to give a Ruby a good smack. The door opened and in walked the man himself, Ozpin, carrying a plate of cookies in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

 

“Glynda, put the crop down, you know she’s just saying it to aggravate you.” He spoke in solid, measured tones, like he was considering every word before it came out. Glynda growled and turned away, trying to recover her composure.

 

“Honestly,” Ozpin said. “I’ve never understood why you two don’t get along.” Neither explained, it was a long story. One involving a bottle of bourbon, a monster truck rally and a harbor seal.

 

Ozpin nodded, as if he expected the silence and sat down, placing the cookies in front of her. “Ruby, do you know why you’re here?”

 

“I’m guessing I didn’t win the Remnant’s Model Citizen award?”

 

The man smiled and kept talking, he always seemed unaffected by Ruby’s snark, which irritated her to no end.

 

“You graduated top of your class at Signal when you were only thirteen, you never tried to enter a true academy to get your license. You could have been the best of us all, instead you started doing mercenary work. You became quite the savant at it, even working with us on a few occasions.”

 

“You say this like I don’t know it, Ozzy.” Ruby mocked, she hadn’t touched the cookies, but she had swiped his coffee, she knew the geezer spiked his shit with enough whiskey to make the legality of calling it “coffee” questionable at best. “Skip to the point, I’m a seventeen year old girl who was hoping to get slammed and have relations with someone I’ll probably regret later. I don’t have time for your exposition, we’re not in a novel.

 

“Very well, I want you to join Beacon as a student.”

 

Ruby tried to hold it in, she really did, but she couldn’t help it. She bursted out laughing, it took her a whole minute to stop.

 

“See, sir,” Glynda snapped. “I told you she wasn’t worth it. She’s just like her father.” 

 

“Yeah, wow, Oz,” she gasped through residual chuckles. “You must be  _ really  _ desperate if you’re crawling to me. Give me one good reason why I should skip over to your little school.”

 

Ozpin’s face held a smirk, which for him was the equivalent of a devilish grin. 

 

“I can give you two,” he stated, pulling a pair of photos from his coat. One was of a blonde girl with a cocky smile and lilac eyes. The other was of a girl with alabaster skin, snow white hair and blue eyes schooled into a stoic expression, but behind those eyes, you could see hints of cold fury made only more prominent by the scar that bisected one of them. 

 

“Yang Xiao-Long” Oz said, tapping the photo of the blonde. “Your cousin.” His hand moved to the other, “Weiss Schnee, your...” He paused, like he wasn’t sure what category the heiress fell into in Ruby’s book. There had been rumors about their exact connection, friends, lovers, partners. One thing was sure, if you messed with Weiss Schnee, you’d better make peace with your creator, because Ruby Rose would hunt you like a dog. Running just meant you’d just die tired. “Both are going to be enrolled in Beacon this year.” 

 

Ruby drained the rest of Ozpin’s cup, slammed it down on the table and wiped her mouth. 

 

“When do I start?”


	2. Chapter 2

The Bullhead that pulled Ruby in was empty, that was something she had specifically asked for. She hated crowded flights. Being in a flying tin can was enough of a terrifying experience, she didn’t need the added stress of the thousands of bacteria being passed from person to person by the recycled air. She also wanted to find a way to avoid Goodbitch’s welcome speech, but that was really just a bonus to dodging cholera. 

 

As she hopped off the aircraft into the plaza, she saw Yang walking with a couple of friends, talking animatedly with her hands, like she was recounting some action packed event. Careful to keep her face hidden beneath her hood, Ruby grazed past her and kept her gaze down. She got close enough to leave the note she wrote last night after scouting out Beacon’s blueprints.

 

She was so distracted by being this close to her cousin, that Ruby ran right into someone she had truly thought was far away from here, a blonde boy in a black hoodie and jeans, he had shaved his face and cut his hair since she last saw him and his armour was white instead of black, but there was no denying that it was the Bloody Knight himself, Jaune Arc. Towering over her, he held out his hand, smiling kindly, before recognizing her and snatching his hand back. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Ruby, but mercenaries had rules, one rule was that they never helped each other up, it was a sign of respect. They made it through life on their own, they could get up on their own.

 

“Hey, Jaune.” Ruby grunted as she got up. “What are you doing here, last I heard you were taking care of some bandits in Mistral.”

 

“Oh, I was.” His eyes shone with mad glee that made his companion shudder. “It was a good slaughter, but Ozpin asked me to place my talents elsewhere for a bit.” This was where Ruby and Jaune differed, Ruby took any job, so long as it didn’t involve wholesale slaughter. Meanwhile, Jaune only took jobs that let go on a rampage on some bad people.  He was a killer, but he was a necessary evil.

 

“So, how’d he rope ya?”

 

Jaune stretched a bit. “He said an old friend of mine was here. I thought I might pay him a visit, see how things have been.” Ruby nodded, basically the same thing as Ruby, it left her wondering just how many skilled fighters were hiding among the common rabble. Ruby and Jaune, obviously, that was two, then Weiss, that was three. She decided to keep a running tally, just to be safe.

 

Jaune started walking away and Ruby couldn’t help but point something out.

 

“Jaune, orientation is the other way.”

 

“I know,” he responded, “but I want to be late, let people think I’m a bumbling fool, it’ll make things much easier.”

 

Ruby shrugged and walked to orientation, she had never seen Arc play an incompetent. Sure, some people might see his boyish face and baby blues and think he looked sweet, but behind those eyes was a calculating tactician and master manipulator. She once saw him bring down an entire gang hideout without even attacking anyone. He just stood and watched the building burn.

 

Ruby nodded and walked to orientation, it was time to face the music.


	3. Chapter 3

Weiss Schnee didn’t like waiting, she especially didn’t like waiting for someone to make a speech.  _ Awww, c’mon Weissy, _ Ruby’s voice teased.  _ You should try to be more patient, you’ll learn more by waiting and watching than acting. _ Weiss shook her head, how dare Ruby keep nagging her when they hadn’t seen each other in two years. It bothered her that she still couldn’t get the mercenary out of her head. The red highlights and silver eyes that lit up with glee when happy and turned hard as steel in battle. Gah! What was she doing daydreaming? Already the headmaster had finished his speech and she hadn’t heard a word of it.

 

Angrily, she trudged along with the rest of the students to the ballroom they would be staying the night in. For a minute, Weiss swore she saw a flash of a red cloak, but that seemed crazy. Ruby Rose at Beacon was like a Beowolf at a vegetarian convention, wrong and unnatural, not to mention highly dangerous. After getting dressed for bed, Weiss slept soundly, until her slumber was disturbed. Honestly, she didn’t understand why people couldn’t understand that night time was sleep time. Opening her bleary eyes, Weiss looked around searching for the source of the noise, finally pinpointing it to the blonde in the rafters. The girl was sitting and talking to a figure that hid themself in the shadows. Weiss strained her ears to hear what they were saying.

 

“Really, a note? Way to go the extra mile on threatening, cuz.” The blonde said. “What are you even doing here?”

 

“First of all,” the figure responded. “The note obviously worked, secondly, I’m here at Oz’s request.”

 

“Where have you been all this time?”

 

“Everywhere and nowhere, I was keeping tabs on you for awhile, then you pulled that disappearing act and I stopped looking, figured if you wanted to be found, you’d be found.”

 

“Well, how kind of you. Y’know your dad’s real worried about you, been driving himself crazy.”

 

“Then he should’ve actually been a father.”

 

“That’s not fair and you know it, he was grieving.”

 

“Yeah, well so was I. Yet, I didn’t let it consume me, I got up and did something.”

 

“You couldn’t handle it, so you left, that’s not doing something, that’s running away.”

 

The dark figure sighed before they spoke again, now their voice had a hard edge to it. “Look, I didn’t meet you so we could fight. This was a courtesy, I was letting you know I was here. I know you don’t like things being flung on you. So, I’m giving you fair warning.”

 

“Ohhhhh, thank you for your generosity, great benevolent one.”

 

“Yeah, Yeah, now go back to sleep, I’m gonna stay here for awhile.”

 

Wordlessly, the blonde dropped down to the ground, she wasn’t silent, but it seemed like everyone else was so deep asleep that they didn’t notice. Once again, Weiss cursed whatever genetics made her wake up so easily. The figure watched over the room from their vantage point and huffed. Weiss could just barely hear what they said next.

 

“Looks like sleep is once again not an option.”

 

————————————————————————————-

 

The morning light filtered through Weiss’s eyelids, an obvious personal insult. Slowly, the heiress rose from her makeshift cot and got up. There weren’t any private bathrooms yet since they didn’t have dorms, so Weiss had to stomp over to the shared facilities with the other students. After a bare bones version of her morning routine and a quick turn in the changing stall, Weiss was ready to go and take her frustrations out on some Grimm.

 

At the locker room, Weiss saw the blonde from last night, a closer look showed that she was busty and had a good amount of muscles under her very revealing clothes. Weiss steeled her resolve and decided to take some initiative, especially considering that their lockers were next to each other.

 

“Hello,” the heiress said. “My name’s Weiss, what’s yours?” A simple greeting, if a little elementary school.

 

“Yang.” She responded.  _ Finally, _ Weiss thought.  _ I can stop referring to her as the blonde. _

 

“So, what’s your specialty?” She asked, clipping Myrtenaster to her belt

 

Yang pumped her arms and her bracelets transformed into two gauntlets. “Punching people and things into submission.”

 

“Fair enough.” Weiss responded while thinking,  _ seems a little sloppy. _ She walked away and came face to face with a legend, Pyrrha Fucking Nikos, which might as well be her full name, because if Weiss was referring to her, the expletive was definitely in between her first and last.  _ Holy shit,  _ she thought,  _ act natural _ .

“Hello, how are you doing this morning?”  _ Great that was  _ really  _ natural Weiss, _ her inner Ruby snarked.  _ Why don’t you make some beeping noises while your at it, make yourself sound like more of a robot. _

 

“I’m well, thank you and your self?” Pyrrha Fucking Nikos asked.

 

“I-Um-I’m good.”  _ Real eloquent,  _ Fake Ruby teased,  _ Weiss the useless lesbian strikes again _ .

 

“Well, that’s good.”

 

Suddenly a blonde boy in white armor walked by, muttering about locker numbers being a bane of his existence, then he saw Weiss and froze like a deer in headlights. It took her a second, but she recognized him, he looked a little weird without his standard armor or his preferred weapon, seriously, why would a sniper like Arc be carrying a sword and shield? Speaking of which…

 

“Hello, Jaune,” Weis said with saccharine sweetness. “It’s been a while, let’s catch up.”

 

It took the knight two seconds to decide that his best option was to run away. It was undoubtedly still not a great option. The minute he turned to zoom away, a black glyph stopped his momentum and left him to fall on the ground. That kind of surprised Weiss, usually he would have dodged it in a second.

 

“I take it you two know each other.” Pyrrha Fucking Nikos observed.

 

“In a way,” Weiss responded. “He and I have crossed paths before.”

 

“I try and try to get away Ice Queen, can’t you just let me go without any pain?”

 

The heiress pretended to think about it before answering. “Hmm...no.”

 

Arc groaned from the floor. Then the announcement came on and told everyone it was time to meet at the cliffs for initiation.

 

_ Finally, _ Weiss thought,  _ Now I can actually get to work. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! This will be updated on an alternating schedule with my other fic, No Such Thing As Good Intentions, however, I am considering a small rewrite, mostly on the character of Jaune, I'm thinking of making him less of a cuckoo with a hard on for death and more of a goofball mercenary that isn't great in combat, but an amzing tactician. Let me know what you all think of the idea!
> 
> Yours In Pentagrams,  
> HaveAngstWillWrite


	4. Chapter 4

Ruby was waiting for the last second to appear on her launch pad. She would’ve headed in early, but Oz nixed that plan. Then when she tried anyways Glynda did her whole freaky deaky telekinesis trick and sent her flying. Message received. Now she was observing the other students before her. A quiet boy with a pink streak in his hair, next to an energetic redhead. Jaune, looking quite like a timid boy, all except for the confidence that stayed in the grip he had on his weapon. Pyrrha Nikos, sorry, Pyrrha Fucking Nikos according to Weiss, looking more prepared than anyone. A girl all in black, a Belladonna symbol on her weapon. Yang, sun glasses on, all confidence and muscle, looking not even slightly shaken from their talk last night. Then there was Weiss, Ruby’s heiress. Her icy eyes were cold and calculating, her stance would have looked sure to most observers, but Ruby knew that she was nervous.

 

 _Eh,_  She thought. When she sees me, we’ll be way past nervouzzs. Honestly, Ruby was a little scared, she wasn’t sure how her Ice Queen would react to seeing her again. She had good reason to disappear, but Weiss didn’t know that. She snapped out of her thoughts and focused, launches were starting.

 

A few of the less interesting went first, there was a boy among them with the Winchester sigil on his armor, but she saw him teasing a Rabbit Faunus earlier, pulling her ears. She had to restrain herself from using Crescent Rose for an impromptu prostate exam. Oz had put up a blanket “no maiming, killing or beating” policy on all his students. Sap.

 

The next few went, the calm boy soaring with grace and the energetic girl zooming through the trees like a demented rocket. Then Jaune, she had to suppress a giggle as he flopped head over heels in the air. She’d seen him perform a perfect landing from near terminal velocity and now he was flopping in the air like a corpse from a catapult. Nikos and Yang were next, blasting away at different angles, both ready for whatever was about to be thrown at them. Weiss was just ten seconds from launching when Ruby zipped to the empty pad next to her. The shock on her face was kind of hilarious.

 

Ruby smirked and gave a mocking two finger salute with a wink. “Hiya, Weissy.”

 

The last thing she heard from the heiress as she flew through the air was as followed: “WHAT IN THE HOLY SHITSTAIN’S ON AN ANGEL’S UNDERWEAR?!?”

 

Ruby doubled over laughing as she visualized the look Weiss probably had on her face. Then she heard it, click, whirrrr... “shit.” And then she was soaring through the sky. Okay, okay, think, Weiss was launched at somewhere between a 30 and 35 degree angle, so let’s split it and call it 32.5, she did some quick calculations in her head. the pad was tilted slightly right, she hasn’t loss or gained any noticeable weight. So her trajectory arc would land her somewhere over in that part with the Beowolf packs they left roaming around. Adding in her glyphs slowing her speed to about two-thirds Of it’s original at her descent and she should’ve landed somewhere around... “There!”

 

Quickly, she used her Semblance to adjust her trajectory and opened Crescent Rose in its spear configuration. Taking aim at a tree, she pulled the firing lever and the blade shot out and stuck perfectly. Flicking a switch, she activated the gravity Dust capsules on each section and pulled herself in, landing neatly and silently on the trunk, she clicked the shaft back in and pulled the weapon out. As she fell gracefully onto the forest floor, she put Crescent Rose into its sword form, best weapon for Beowolfs since they had next to nil armor. Quietly, she searched the ground and found some tracks that looked like they came from...

 

“Good lord, Weissy,” Ruby groaned. “Please, please, please, tell me you’re not wearing heels in a fucking forest. I thought I showed you better than that shit.” Racing off, Ruby followed her heiress’ trail. Honestly, she was a little disappointed at how easy it was, she’s gotten sloppy. Ruby thought. She tracked Weiss to a green clearing where she sat on a rock with her arms crossed and her foot tapping. Her face was a full blown patented Weiss Schnee Scowl. Cold glare, clenched jaw and an arched regal brow demanding an explanation.

 

“What took you so long?” Weiss asked

 

“Sorry,” Ruby responded. “Traffic was hell.”

 

The heiress’ eyes turned even harder. She got up and pulled Myrtenaster from her waist, pointing the tip directly at Ruby’s heart. In an instant she was right there, her blade pressing up against Ruby’s Aura.

 

“Two years, Two fucking years and you start with a joke?” Tears were streaming down her face as she stabbed at the mercenary with her blade. Ruby didn’t even block one, she deserved more than this, she should’ve pulled back her Aura and let it end, but she couldn’t, no matter how hard she try, Ruby Rose was still a coward. The attacks became weaker and weaker until Weiss was gently punching Ruby’s chest as she weeped. Slowly, the mercenary wrapped her arms around the heiress and held her close, letting her tears stain her clothes.

 

“I can’t tell you why I left, but you should know that I wouldn’t have done it without a damn good reason. And, I can promise you that I’ll never leave again.”

 

Weiss looked up, her eyes still leaving tear tracks across her face. “Never? You swear?”

 

Ruby smiled softly, “I swear, as long as my heart beats, I’m going to stay by your side.”

 

The heiress buried her head into the merc’s shoulder and grabbed her tight. With that, for the first time in two years, Ruby felt complete.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter my friends! Rejoice! Remember, constructive criticism is the only thing I eat besides the souls of the wicked. So, if you have any tips, I look forward to hearing them.
> 
> Yours In The Ninth Circle,
> 
> HaveAngstWillWrite


	5. Chapter 5

_ I have made bandits scream in terror,  _ Jaune thought,  _ I have slaughtered hundreds, there are parts of the world that whisper my title in fear. So, why the bloody fuck am I pinned to a tree? _ Jaune had thought the floppy body act was a good way to make himself seem helpless, he had landed in worse ways and even if he didn’t stick the landing, his Aura would’ve absorbed easily. Scatha, his mentor had told him he had quite a hefty amount of it, or as she put it, “enough ta keep nothin’ short  o’ a train ta the face from breakin’ it down, lad.” He couldn’t sense Aura like her or Ruby, so he had to take her word for it.

 

As he kicked and swung and swore so much that Ruby might have blushed. He really should’ve thought that at least one of Ozpin’s kids was enough of a do-gooder to “save” him. He almost called it quits right there, he was a warrior, not someone’s pincushion. The only thing that stopped him was Ozpin’s promise.  _ Do this and I tell you where your sister is. _ It was the only thing that kept him restrained really, after so long without any family but Angau Coch, his sword and shield. So, he waited, a skill he possessed with great aptitude. 

 

After what felt like a half hour, Nikos appeared. With her red hair, green eyes and warrior mystique, he thought she was his former mentor. Oh, he could also see down her shirt, he gave an involuntary shudder at associating Scatha with cleavage. Honestly, that woman was the opposite of a turn on for him, might’ve had something to do with how she constantly handed his ass to him. Nikos looked up with a smile.

 

“Arc, right?” She asked

 

“Jaune, actually, Arc’s the last name, Pyrrha Nikos.” He responded, letting her know she didn’t need to introduce herself.

 

“Looks like your a little stuck up there.”

 

“Yes, oh mighty speaker of the obvious, now, would you be a dear and help me down?”

 

She giggled, “of course, sorry for that, just didn’t want you to die and all.”

 

“It’ll take a lot more effort for me to do that.” He mumbled.

 

“What was that.” Nikos asked.

 

“Nothing, where were we? Oh yeah, could you get your spear out of this tree?”

 

Nikos gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I forgot.”

 

In a few minutes, they were traveling through the forest, Jaune silently lamenting the hole in his hood that he’d have to stitch up. Nikos was silent as they walked, it didn’t really bother him though, silence let him listen for danger. Rustling leaves and chirping birds meant that predators weren’t nearby, but neither of those were present. He cocked his head and listened even closer, he heard the breeze move and sway the branches. He halted to a stop as they entered a clearing with a cave at one end.

 

“Maybe the relic’s in there.” He suggested while looking at the pictographs that were painted on the wall.

 

Nikos peered into the darkness and shrugged before heading in.  _ Great, _ Jaune thought as a large smile graced his face,  _ I always wanted a Deathstalker stinger, it’ll look good above a fireplace. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short baby chapter, reviews are welcome!
> 
> Edit: forgot to explain this. Angau Coch was a Middle Welsh name for Julius Caesar’s sword Crocea Mors, it translates to “Red Death”
> 
> Scatha is based off Scathach, a woman who trained ancient Celtic warriors.


	6. Chapter 6

Yang Xiao-Long was absolutely pissed off, luckily that just meant she was going to hit a shit ton harder. Anger was her fuel and her chat with Ruby was basically like dumping gasoline on a forest fire. A bad idea by any stretch of the imagination. The brawler trudged through the forest and started reminiscing. In a way, Ruby’s frequent disappearances made Yang better, not that she was happy that Ruby left, but she did learn that punching bags were good outlets for anger. After that, she dedicated her whole life to fighting, getting better and better. Sure Ruby was still leagues above her, Yang had gone on the normal graduation track for Signal, start at thirteen, end at seventeen, ship directly to an academy. Ruby was in and out before the teachers could blink.

 

Four years later she just reappears in Yang’s new school, saying it was at the headmaster’s request? Yeah right, this thing smelled like the docks on Patch, fishy. Yang heard a deep growl from behind her and turned to see a giant Ursa. As it stood, she grinned, perfect timing. She armed Ember Celica and delivered a devastating blow to its stomach. The Grimm crashed through the underbrush and let out a deeper more menacing version of it’s first growl. Behind it were two more Ursa, slightly smaller, but still deadly. 

 

“Oh goody!” the blonde said, perking up a bit. “You brought friends.”

 

The front Ursa swiped at her and she flipped back as the second followed up with its own strikes. Their claws whiffed past her as she dodged with ease, letting herself get into the groove.

 

“Jeez.” she snarked, confidence exuding from her. “You guys couldn’t hit the broad side of a barrrrr…” A golden strand of hair floated down between her eyes. Normally, she would’ve shrugged that small amount of hair off and gotten a little upset. Today, that little strand was the straw that broke the camel’s back. She felt her Semblance boil up with her rage, like a volcano of pure unadulterated anger.

 

“You...YOU MONSTERS!!” fire crackled around her as she launched forward and delivered a vicious strike to the lead Ursa, taking it out immediately. She turned to the second one and sent it hurtling through trees with a barrage of jabs. The last one stood on it hind legs and let out an deep roar. Yang stood with her arms spread wide.

 

“WHAT?!?! YOU WANT SOME!?!?!”

 

Just as it was about to charge, the Ursa went stock still and fell to the ground, a blade in his back. Retrieving the blade was a girl all in black strutting in the clearing at a voluptuous pace. Yang’s mouth turned dry and her face felt extremely hot all of a sudden.  _ Holy shit, _ the blonde thought as the girl silently sheathed he blade.  _ How is she that fucking hot? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted for a while, I know, I've been a bad writer! I just needed to take a small break to let my brain rest and get inspiration. Tell me what you think, reviews are always welcome.


	7. Chapter 7

“RUBY ROSE! THIS WAS A TERRIBLE IDEA!” Weiss screeched as she held onto the Nevermore.

 

“I disagree,” Ruby shot back calmly. “I prefer to see this as a great idea that might get us killed.”

 

Weiss let out a low growl and turned away. She was always like this so calm and collected, she always seemed so unflappable, but Weiss knew this wasn’t true. She had seen the Ruby that was hidden behind the cynical mask. The one that smiled with kindness and a small hint of sadness, the one that enjoyed peace even when she knew it wouldn’t last. Yet, the red hooded mercenary kept that hidden deep inside. Something about that line of thought took Weiss back into her past for a few seconds.

 

_ “Ruby, why are you crying?” Weiss asked as the merc caressed her face. _

 

_ “Because, you’re too beautiful for this world, angel” _

 

“WEISS!” Ruby’s voice snapped her out of her reverie to meet cold steel eyes instead of the pure quicksilver she had just remembered. “JUMP!”

 

Still dazed and in a small bit of gay panic since Ruby was kind of hot when she went into soldier mode, what Weiss planned to be a graceful dismount ended up to be a not so graceful flailing.

 

“FUUUUUUUUCK!”

 

The heiress could practically hear Ruby’s eyes roll as she zoomed up and caught her.

 

“Truly, you have the grace of a dancer” the mercenary snarked as they fell.

 

“Oh, shut up, dolt.” Weiss grumbled half heartedly as she clung to the other girls neck.

 

They descended slowly thanks to Weiss’ glyphs and landed lightly on the ground.

 

“HEY!” a voice shouted and Weiss turned to see the blonde, Yang, waving at them from the ruin with another girl swathed in black. The girl in black was beautiful in a subjective way, but not really Weiss’ type. Ruby let out a small tisking sound and walked towards them with a grimace. As they joined the other two, Weiss could see Ruby’s muscles tense and become taut. It was obvious that whatever their problem was, it was unresolved. The two met and gave each other brief nods, it honestly looked like two generals about to sign a peace treaty.

 

“Yang.” Ruby greeted.

 

“Ruby”

 

“There’s a Nevermore coming.”

 

“I noticed.”

 

“Just checking.”

 

Their exchange was cut off by an ear piercing and girlish shriek as the unmistakable blonde hair of Jaune Arc went rocketing into a tree.

 

Ruby let out a sigh and looked up at Jaune.

 

“What are we looking at, Arc?”

 

“Deathstalker” The blonde groaned.

 

The mercenary pinched the bridge of her nose. “And  _ why _ did you piss off the murder scorpion?”

“Wanted the tail.”

 

An irritated groan escaped the girl as she pulled up her hood and prepped her weapon.

 

“Of fucking course you did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVE!!!!!! Sorry, I've been super busy, plus I've been working on an original story called The Deceiver, you can find the prologue on Webnovel, Wattpad and Tapas.

**Author's Note:**

> This story is going to be worked on and updated less than my other story, No Such Thing As Good Intentions. 
> 
> A little context to the story.
> 
> Ruby's father is Qrow in this AU, she graduated much earlier and had no interest in Beacon. Yeah, that's pretty much all I needed to cover. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy! Remember, reviews are always welcome!


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